On the Call: McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

A growing number of revenue-starved newspaper publishers are testing ways to charge people to read some stories on their websites. Most are treading carefully because they don't want to alienate readers who have become accustomed to getting virtually all their online information for free.

McClatchy Co. is adopting that approach as it tinkers with the websites for its 30 daily newspapers, which include The Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee.

CEO Gary Pruitt touched upon the company's efforts to strike the right balance between online advertising and reader fees during a Thursday conference call on McClatchy's second quarter earnings.

QUESTION: What are your thoughts on pay walls down the road?

RESPONSE: We do plan on running some tests with pay walls for both general news products and niche products related to sports .... We expect that over time we'll see a mixed model online, but the overwhelming majority of our revenue we expect to be advertising.

We don't see it as a model that needs to be fixed, but slightly enhanced through a paid model. We don't think charging through the websites will be game changing in terms of our financial picture right now.